One Word
by InkWeaverabc
Summary: One Word... or ten. 10 words, 10 drables, you know the drill. 10 drables from 10 prompt words about Roran and Katrina, and their family. Warning: lots of fluff!  RoranxKatrina, please R&R. Complete
1. Kick

**Kick.**

Katrina laid one hand on her swollen belly. "Roran!" She called softly so as not to wake their 1-year-old son, Garrow, sleeping on the bed next to her. Roran came out of the other room. "What is it?" he asked, equally softly. Katrina beckoned, and he came over, sitting down next to her. "Well?" For reply she reached out and took his hand, laying it on her stomach. "There. Can you feel it?" Roran nodded slowly, and leaned across to kiss her. "Mmm. I can."

"She's kicking!" Katrina laughed delightedly. Roran pulled a mock frown. "You don't know it's a she. Could be another boy…" It was an old joke between them.

Katrina shook her head, pushing out her lower lip in a pout. "I want a girl, Roran! The last one was a boy." Roran looked at the sleeping Garrow. "What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing." Katrina laughed softly. She reached across to kiss him, putting up a hand to touch his cheek.

"Nothing at all."


	2. Plenty

**Plenty.**

Katrina lay back on the pillows with a soft groan. Angela tutted. "There, silly girl. You'll have to stay in bed now, for at least a week. I would have thought four was plenty. What you would have wanted another for…" her voice trailed away as she moved off into the other room.

"Don't listen to her, love." Roran said quietly. Katrina shook her head. "I've learned not to. Still, maybe four _was_ enough…"

For reply, Roran handed over the tiny bundle in which lay their third son, miniature and wrinkled and red. "ohhh…" Katrina breathed out, tenderly touching her baby's face. "Still think four was plenty?" Roran asked with a faint smile. "Oh, you!" Katrina waved a hand dismissively in his direction. "It's all right for you…"

The other healer who was supposed to be helping Angela (who had her own words for it) appeared in the doorway, her face a mask of disapproval.

"I have four small children out here and a young man who says he is your cousin. Roran, your wife has just had a baby. I cannot - " A weak laugh from Katrina interrupted her.

"Oh, let them in. They want to see their brother..."

Looking scandalised, the woman turned and stuck her head through the door. Roran heard her her say "I want you to be quiet -" before the door was pulled open and his unruly family spilled into the room, followed by a sheepish-looking Eragon.

The children huddled round Katrina's bed, oohing and ahhhing at their new brother. Roran smiled. Who said four was plenty? Well, maybe it was, but five was nice too.


	3. So

**So.**

"So." said Roran grimly. Garrow stared down at his feet. "What have you got to say for yourself?" demanded Roran in the same tone. "Nothing, Father." Garrow's reply was barely audible. Roran groaned under his breath. "Alright then. You will clean out the pigs completely over the next week." Garrow nodded and turned to go, a slightly relieved look on his face as if he had feared a worse punishment.

Roran sat down, looking slightly puzzled. That look of Garrow's. It reminded him of something… suddenly it hit him and he almost laughed. He remembered his own father telling him off about something. _He_ had said 'So' in just that way, Roran remembered his own reaction. It had been almost exactly the same as Garrow's, staring down at his feet and longing for the interview to be over.

Roran shook his head, smiling slightly. He certainly hadn't thought, then, that he would one day be in the same position, telling off _his_ son.

**A.N. I always pictured Roran as being quite a strict father, I don't know why. Perhaps because Garrow was.**


	4. Gold

**Gold.**

Katrina hummed slightly to herself as she turned the gold arm-ring over in her hands. It was one of the last pieces the dowry that Nasuada had given her. Most of the other pieces had been sold, one by one over the years, and that box of gold and jewels had grown, under Roran's careful handling, into this house she was sitting in, and everything in it.

She looked up, and around the room. The roof was low and the dark beams held up the thatch above. It was not richly furnished, but they had all they needed here. Katrina got up and walked to the door. From it, she could see all down the valley towards the place that had once been Carvahall. The burnt land had grown back green, and a few houses had sprung up, a testament to the proud spirit of the people of Palencar valley. The few that had survived the last battles had returned here, rebuilding on the foundations of their old homes. Some others had come as well, friends the villagers had made who had nowhere else to go.

Garrow and Islena, their first two children, ran towards her, up the gentle grassy slope. "Mother! Mother!" their cries rang out in the still, sunny morning. Katrina smiled. It wasn't much to build a life on, a chest of gold rings, but they had done it.


	5. Blue

**Blue**

Roran looked down at his tiny son. The baby stirred slightly, and opened huge blue eyes. He blinked at his father. Roran looked into Katrina's big green eyes with his own brown ones. "Why has he got blue eyes?" He asked in slight confusion. Katrina leaned back on the pillows, laughing weakly. "Oh, Roran!" she managed after a minute.

"Whatever are you laughing about?" Angela asked, putting her head round the door. "Roran, I don't want you tiring your wife out. She's just had her first baby!" Katrina grinned. "He just asked me why little Garrow had blue eyes!" she gasped.

"Well!" Angela appeared lost for words. "Of all the… For your information, young man, babies always have blue eyes when they're born." Roran looked down at his son. Garrow yawned slightly, his eyes crinkling up at the corners. Even his baby seemed to be laughing at him. Roran looked up. The tips of his ears felt rather red.

"Oh." He said lamely.


	6. Little

**Little**

It took Saphira three days to fly out of the empire to the safety of Surda. Her thoughts were muddled. They alternated between worry for Eragon, anger at Eragon and satisfaction at the killing of the Ra'zak. She was so pre-occupied that she barely noticed the two humans on her back, and they were so happy to be reunited that they paid her little attention. She remembered with amusement when she had struggled to lift even Eragon alone.

On the first day, Katrina and Roran talked. On the second day, Katrina slept whilst Roran held her to prevent her falling off.

On the third day, Roran was on the other side of the fire, Katrina and Saphira sitting side by side. "Saphira?" Katrina said hesitantly. _Yes, Copper-curls? _It was a name Saphira had invented for Katrina when she had first seen her. Katrina appeared surprised. "Oh! You can speak! Roran told me you could, but…" her voice trailed off as she realised she might be being rude.

_Think your words__, copper curls. I will hear them. _

_Alright… Aren't you getting tired, Saphira? We've been going for a long time… Aren't we heavy?_

Saphira threw back her head and gave a bugling laugh. _No, Copper curls! You are only very little!_

Katrina smiled as Saphira chuckled again. Then she laughed too. It was the first laugh she had given since they left Helgrind. It was a beautiful sound, light and clear and musical. On the other side of the little clearing, Roran sat up and stared across at the laughing Katrina. His face was a perfect mixture of joy and astonishment.

That night, as Katrina slept, roran turned over and spoke quietly. "Saphira?" _ Yes? _ Roran hesitated. "I just… Thank you." _For what? _Saphira wasn't aware she had done anything particularly worthy of thanks today. "I mean… for today. She hasn't laughed since we escaped, and I was beginning to worry…" his voice trailed away. "She has such a lovely laugh." _She has that. If that is all, you are welcome. Now sleep, if you can._

Roran laid his head down again, a smile on his face. A few minutes later, he was asleep.


	7. Sound

**Sound**

Roran laid the last beam in place along the roof of the farmhouse with quiet satisfaction. The house was done, and he had completed it well before the cold winds began to gust across from the spine, pulling winter along behind them. He climbed backwards down the makeshift ladder and turned to see Katrina surveying him with a smile, little Garrow on her hip. "Well, it's finished." Said Roran proudly. Katrina walked past him and reached up to touch the rough thatch that the beams held in place. "Is it sound?" she asked, a teasing note in her voice. Roran feigned outrage. "Are you suggesting that my building is not sound? Don't you trust my work?" Katrina laughed and hugged him awkwardly with one arm, the other supporting Garrow.

"Yes, Roran. I trust your work completely." Roran hugged her back, smiling. "I wouldn't speak to soon, though. It's got to get through the winter yet." Katrina nodded.

"Aye. It'll get through the winter alright Roran. And If it doesn't we could always get Eragon to come and carry us off on Saphira to stay with him and Arya." Her tone was serious but her eyes were laughing as she reached up to kiss him.

"Mummyyy!" Garrow's complaining voice broke in on the kiss as he reached up to grab at Katrina's loose hair.

"Oww!" Katrina gasped as she looked down at him. "No! Don't do that! Roran, could you…?" Roran chuckled as he took Garrow from her, removing the lock of hair from his tiny fist. "Naughty boy! You don't grab hair." Said Katrina reprovingly. Garrow wriggled. "Mummy wasn't listening!" Then he grinned. "House done! Daddy says house done! I want to go an' see, mummy!"

Roran and Katrina looked at each other. "Alright then, Garrow." Said Roran softly, putting him down. "Why don't we go and see?"

Roran and Katrina walked into their new home, Garrow running in front of them.

**A.N. notices the Eragon/Arya refrance? I'm an ExA writer at heart. :D**


	8. Light

**Light.**

A dull, irregular crashing woke Katrina from a fitful sleep. She rolled over slightly with a groan of pain as the bruises on her back protested at the movement.

She squinted with dull eyes at the heavy wooden door. Something was attacking it from the other side, something strong.

"Lost the key, have you, you fiends?" Katrina muttered under her breath, but her voice was shaking. She was scared, and she thought she should possibly move away from the door, but what good would it do? She could barely summon the energy to shift on her cot, and trying to get away from the door would be just delaying the inevitable…

The crashes had ceased. Now the – thing – was attempting to lift the door off its hinges. She heard muffled shouts and a moment's pause. Then the huge, heavy door was lifted off its hinges and pulled away from the door frame.

Light flooded the room, and blinded, Katrina cowered away from it. "Leave me alone, you toothless bastards!" her voice was shrill and shook audibly. "I - " but the figure stepped forward and her voice died in her throat.


	9. Real

**Real. (Sort of part two to light, but it made two chapters.)**

_It can't be…_ Trembling, she stood. _I'm dreaming. _Hallucinating. She had finally gone mad, but he looked so real…

She reached up a hand and touched his cheek, letting out a long, long breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. He was real. He was here. He had come. For a moment she just stood there, drinking in the sight of him.

"You came."

"I came."

How could she have ever doubted that he would? Now, here, staring at him she wondered if she had gone mad, a little. Else why had she ever thought that Roran would have abandoned her? He had come, like she would have come for him. She should have known. She had known, inside, always. She had known he would come, and now he had.

Roran let out a shaky laughing sob and pulled her to him.

His arms were round her, real and warm and strong and for the first time since the soldiers had come Katrina felt really, truly safe.

**A.N. I'm thinking of writing up this and Light and making them longer and more detailed and going on to write the rest of their escape from her pov and publishing it as an independent story. What do you guys think? How long should it be? I value your opinions! **


	10. Sure

**Sure.**

Roran stared into the fire as the flames crackled softly. He was content, happy and in no particular hurry to do anything. Outside, the night was dark and windy, but in here the fire cast a warm glow over everything, making him feel pleasantly drowsy.

A slight sound made him look towards the door. Katrina stood there, leaning against the post, smiling at him. He shifted in his seat and she came over, sitting down next to him and leaning her head on his shoulder. For a time they were comfortable together. Then Katrina broke the silence. "Do you realise," she said, snuggling against him, "We've been married now for more than ten years?"

"So we have." Replied Roran in some surprise. "It doesn't feel like it, does it?"

"No, not really. But so much has happened!" Looking around, Roran had to agree with her. Ten years ago they had been refugees with no home and no family, each fighting, in their own way, a war they were only a tiny part of. Now Galbatorix was dead, they had a house, five children and the stability of a home in a place neither had been at all sure they would ever see again.

"So much has changed." He mused aloud.

"One thing hasn't." said Katrina, smiling. "What's that?"

"We still have each other." Roran smiled back, leaning his head against hers. "Yes. That hasn't changed, has it?"

"No" Katrina reached up and kissed him, long and deeply. "And it never will."

"Never" said Roran, kissing her back. Katrina chuckled softly. "You sound very sure. You don't know what will happen."

"No, I can't." agreed Roran "But I do know one thing."

"What that?"

"I will never, ever stop loving you." He bent his head to kiss her again.

"And of that, you can be absolutely sure."

**A.N. Finished! Yay! This is the first multi-chapter fic I've completed! But anyway, thank you for reading, reviewing if you did, and generally being awesome! I hope you enjoyed it!**

**One last thing: RORAN AND KATRINA FOREVER!**


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